Henry V: Studies of a Young King

By Katarzyna Ignatik, ’20

As Assistant Professor of English Dr. Benedict Whalen recommends, putting Shakespeare’s Henry V in context is beneficial in studying it at the high school level. Henry V is the last of a series of plays following the central character of the king. In the earlier historical plays in the set, we see Henry V being educated as a young prince, and in the second set we watch him take the throne. “In Henry V we have this young king just taking the throne and engaging in profound questions of what’s due to him and what’s due to the kingdom he’s defending,” Dr. Whalen said. “We see the fruit of his education, the results of what he had learned as a young prince in the earlier plays.”

Henry V becomes even more interesting when studied alongside Hamlet, a much better-known play of Shakespeare’s, but one written about the same time as Henry V. As Dr. Whalen pointed out, the plays are both about young rulers—a king in one case, a prince in the other—who face difficult questions and decisions in their respective roles.

Yet one of the qualities of Henry V that makes it most valuable for high school study is its use of epic convention and rhetoric. “Henry V has some of the most unforgettable speeches, some of the most excellent rhetoric we find in all of Shakespeare’s canon,” Dr. Whalen said. “The Saint Crispin’s Day speech is one of these speeches that all high schoolers should be forced to memorize. It’s moving, it’s important, and it’s beautiful.”

 

Click here for a downloadable (PDF format) Henry V poster for use in your classroom.